Groups organizing to protest school mask mandates

Citizen groups are organizing protests aimed at stopping various school boards, including Riverhead’s, from implementing mask mandates intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus in schools.

Long Island Loud Majority, a Facebook page liked by over 9,400 people and which has organized rallies in support of former-President Donald Trump, has posted calls on its Facebook to rally against mandates, listing dates and locations of various school board meetings across Long Island. The posts echo the actions of parents in other states across the country who called for an end to masks in schools.

“Everyone needs to flood these meetings to unmask our kids… if you don’t have a school board meeting coming up, feel free to pick one and support the other parents,” one post reads.

Masks for children, faculty and staff in K-12 schools are included in the current recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics to stop the spread of the virus. Both the Suffolk County Department of Health and the New York state Education Department have recommended the guidelines for K-12 schools, although the final decision is being left to individual school districts. 

With no vaccine against the virus approved by the Food and Drug Administration for people under 12 years old, and vaccinations for the eligible teen population remaining low, children are left vulnerable to becoming sick and continuing to spread the virus. Experts warn that if the virus continues to spread, the mutations may harm the effectiveness of the vaccine and prolong the pandemic.  

Incoming New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will take office next week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation takes effect, said yesterday she supports mask mandates in schools.

Although children have been less likely to suffer the more severe effects of the coronavirus, there is early data to suggest they can develop long-term chronic symptoms, or what experts are calling “Long-COVID.” Recent reports in states with surges because of the delta variant, which is now responsible for more than 80% of cases in the United States, also suggest more kids are becoming sick with COVID-19 — and more severely ill —  than before the variant arrived in the United States. Health officials and hospital administrators in hard-hit states have been alarmed by the spike of pediatric hospitalizations and ICU admissions.

In an interview with ABC News, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said parents should “think about masks in the way that they ought to be thought about: this is not a political statement or an invasion of your liberties. This is a lifesaving medical device,” he said

“Asking kids to wear a mask is uncomfortable, but you know, kids are pretty resilient,” Collins said, warning that if outbreaks happen in schools, children may have to transition back to remote learning. 

“It’s a small price to pay for being able to keep kids where they need to be to learn,” he said.

Within the Riverhead Central School District, 10 out of 107 school-age children (5-17) tested positive for the coronavirus this past week, a positivity rate of 9.35%, according to N.Y. State Department of Health data. The positivity rate for Suffolk County has also been rising and reached 5.6% today, with a seven-day average of 4%.

Aside from the Long Island Loud Majority, the effort to oppose a school mask policy is being organized locally. Monique Parsons, who sought election to the school board this year, is the administrator of a Facebook group established Friday called Riverhead Parents for Liberty. It already has more than 100 members. She said the group is not against masks, but for a parent’s choice to mask kids. Parsons did not respond to requests for further comment.

In a call with RiverheadLOCAL Monday, Long Island Loud Majority organizer Shawn Farash said he believes, among other things, that masks do not prevent the spread of coronavirus. Farash said kids should not need to be masked because they are “statistically the least likely” to get the virus and get seriously ill from the disease. 

“If you are a parent of a child you do not look to the CDC for parental guidance, and the schools should not be doing that either,” Farash said. “The schools should be consulting directly with the constituents, with the residents and with the parents of their districts to find out where they stand. And that is not what is going on, these decisions are being made behind closed doors.”

He said children are receiving the “harshest restrictions” and that forcing children to mask is “predatory behavior” because they cannot “fight back.” They are being “taken advantage of” to prove “that governing bodies can make mandates that people will follow out of fear.”

The final decision for any restrictions is still up to school boards, whose members are elected volunteers from their communities. Farash believes that school boards will not deviate from CDC recommendations “because of the input of the teacher’s unions.” 

First Congressional District Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) tweeted his opposition to any government mandates on Thursday.

“The gov’t shouldn’t be imposing mask mandates on students to return to school. As two Hauppauge school officials wrote in June, it’s time to ‘let kids breathe, see each other’s smiles and enjoy being kids again.’ Leave this decision to parents & let’s get life back to normal!” he wrote.

In an email today, Riverhead Superintendent of Schools Dr. Augustine Tornatore said, “Any resident has a right to come to a Board of Education meeting and express their thoughts during public comment.”

Tornatore, who said he expected to have a  plan in place for restrictions by the end of the week,  said today he would discuss the issue with board members during Tuesday’s board meeting and the district would have a plan to the public by Wednesday.